Hanford Workers Making Progress on "N" Reactor Decommissioning

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Hanford workers are making significant strides in decommissioning the "N" reactor, which was used to produce plutonium and also generate power.

Of the 108 structures associated with the reactor, more than half have now been destroyed. Most recently, workers started taking apart the "golf ball", which is a contaminated water holding tank.

A project manager we spoke with says, because the reactor is so close to the riverm they're taking a lot of precautions.

"We'll do water mitigation to make sure any water runoff, we collect that", says project manager Bob Smith. "We do erosion control... fencing and erosion around any of the structures as they fall off toward the river".

Smith says they're on pace to have the reactor cocooned by their initial target date of September 2012.